Although you might expect to see "short story" in a sentence topped and tailed with "is the" and "dead?", in the past few days a New Yorker short story written by the previously unknown Kristen Roupenian has gone viral.
The story of Margot and Robert, who meet at the independent cinema where Margot worked and gradually build a connection, has resonated with many readers - most of them women - to the point that it is now being held up as the perfect example of the reality of 21st century dating. Margot and Robert's bond is constructed primarily over text messages, in which they share jokes and emojis and an imaginary correspondence on behalf of their cats, but it becomes clear both are talking to a version of the other that doesn't really exist.
